Free High Society by Penny Jordan Page B

has a very passionate nature. She’s never made any
secret of the fact that she has a bit of a thing for me—’
    ‘Really? And what do you have a thing for, Blayne? Apart from
assaulting women, of course.’
    An angry red tide of colour had begun to seep up under Nick’s
tan.
    ‘I don’t know what she told you, but she was—’
    ‘Trying to tell you that she wasn’t interested in having sex
with you. Let me give you a friendly warning. You’ve been lucky. You married
Lucy. Don’t push that luck too far, otherwise you could very easily find
yourself unmarried to her. Right now she’s all that’s stopping me from turning
your life inside out. You’re scum—you know that, and I know that. So, in case
you want what we both know to become public knowledge, I suggest that in future
you remember what a very lucky man you are.’
    ‘It’s all very well for you, standing there all high and mighty
with your billions of dollars behind you,’ Nick burst out savagely. ‘You don’t
even begin to know what the real world is all about. If you did—’
    ‘If I did, I still wouldn’t use a woman to satisfy my own needs
if that wasn’t what she wanted. Money has nothing to do with morals, Blayne.
We’ve all got freedom of choice.’
    ‘Bastard,’ Silas heard Nick mutter venomously as he walked away
from him. But the sudden compression of his mouth into a hard line wasn’t caused
by Nick’s aggression.
    He had claimed a moral superiority over Blayne, and it was true
that he would never physically abuse or force a woman in any kind of way, but
according to his mother in planning to marry Julia he was using her.
    ‘A marriage between us will benefit her as much as it will me,’
he had told her.
    ‘Only if she shares your thinking, Silas, and I have to say
that I don’t think she will. You claim to be a practical man who has no desire
for a marriage based on love. I doubt that Julia will share that point of
view.’
    Silas stopped himself. This was hardly the best time for him to
start indulging in a guilt trip over Julia’s feelings.
    Any practical person would agree with him that a marriage
between them would be extremely beneficial to both of them. In and out of bed.
He considered himself to be an aware and fair lover, and Julia hadn’t flirted
with him earlier on because she didn’t want to have
sex with him, had she? There was no reason why they shouldn’t share a mutually
very satisfying sex life. If they did, then he was certainly prepared to remain
a faithful husband, and he felt confident that he could keep Julia satisfied
enough not to want to stray herself. Their marriage would certainly have a far
stronger foundation than one based on ‘romantic love’. One only had to look at
the tragedy of Lucy’s marriage to Blayne to know that.

CHAPTER FIVE
    T HERE were undeniably some advantages to her ‘engagement’ to Silas, Julia reflected as their chauffeur-driven limousine swept them down toward Positano, and first-class travel had to be at the top of the list.
    Julia knew that many people found Silas dauntingly formidable. His unemotional practicality had certainly irked her over the years, but there were times when a practical man was a bonus and this was definitely one of them. She considered herself to be a modern, independent woman, but she had certainly enjoyed having nothing to do other than sit back and relax and admire the awe-inspiring Amalfi coastline.
    Silas, predictably, had been working, his BlackBerry handheld PDA device in constant use as he phoned and e-mailed, while the chauffeur with true Italian élan and a breathtakingly macho disregard for the coaches lumbering the other way.
    ‘Relax,’ Silas had murmured at one point, when she had audibly drawn in her breath, sure that they would go over the cliff. ‘He knows he won’t get a tip if we don’t survive.’
    It had astonished her that he had noticed her apprehension. He certainly hadn’t been looking at her. She knew that,